


The time of Death

by Isidar_Mithrim



Series: Drabbles & Ficlet [16]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, ButNotThatAngst, Canon Compliant, Character Death, Death, DeathIsAnOldFriend, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Gen, Missing Scene, The Deathly Hallows, The Tale of the Three Brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-06-22 17:33:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19675171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isidar_Mithrim/pseuds/Isidar_Mithrim
Summary: Thousand are the facets of Death: for someone it lasts an instant, for others an eternity; for someone it’s a choice, for others an unforeseen surprise.Only one thing is certain: Death will come for everybody.





	1. A presage of Death

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Il tempo di morire](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/496201) by Isidar Mithrim. 



> I had the inspiration for this story thanks to a contest that asked to write about ‘Il tempo di morire’ (= The time – meant as ‘moment’ – to die), which is the title of an Italian song from Lucio Battisti.  
> I’m open to suggestions about the English title: the alternatives were ‘Time of Death’, ‘The moment of Death’, ‘The time to die’, ‘Time to die’

_Poor fool._

Let me tell you a secret: there's no creature or prophecy that can predict the instant Death'll decide to come.

And yet, the temptation to glimpse it in every dark crevice, tea leaf or line of the hands it's naively typical of the wizard kind – such a presumptuous and arrogant species.

You live with the fear of Death and you hope knowing when it'll happen will sweeten the demise, but the moment I appear the dread starts to consume you.

_Pathetic._

Twenty-four hours, that's how long fear took to kill you, Bilius.

_I didn't move a paw._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character: The Grim (‘killing’ Bilius, a Weasleys’ uncle told to be dead after seeing a Grim)
> 
> Thanks for reading! :D  
> Any thoughts or suggestion for for the translation is welcomed ^^
> 
> If you like, you can also find me on [Tumblr](https://isidar-mithrim.tumblr.com)
> 
> Isidar ^^


	2. The flames of Death

He sensed it in the exact instant the boy hesitantly entered the room. 

Inside his pocket, secured in a holly case, there was a dormant feather gifted many lives ago.

Fawkes watched him carefully before catching his attention to glare at him, ready to draw out the cold greed of the _other_.

Discovering his sheepish eyes burning of courage and loyalty was like a balm for his tired limbs.

Two pale, ruffled feathers fled his naked tail, and the phoenix knew there was no reason left to wait.

At last, the Burning Day had come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character: as written in the text, Fawkes; the boy is (obviously, I hope) Harry; ‘the other’ is Tom Riddle


	3. The length of Death

_It'll be quick,_ they'd said.

The dull edge of the blade drops again on my exposed neck

and more noble wizard blood spills wasted from the neatly sheared arteries.

The torment is revived everytime the steel sinks into the tissues,

tearing the already jagged flesh and shaking my trembling, freezing body.

_One instant and it'll all be over._

**

Forty-five blows, that's how long my Death had lasted.

It didn't feel at all _as quick as an instant_.

**

Forty-five blows, that's how long I thought my Death had lasted, but I woke up as ghost and I'm still waiting to die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character: Nearly Headless Nick


	4. The Master of Death

He came silent as a lynx and light as a butterfly, dark as a panther and lethal as a cobra.

He listened to his ragged breathing and run a curious finger upon the famous scar that too many times had wracked him in pain.

It wasn't the first time he'd stood so close he could touch his body, and he'd never forgot the feeling of his soul suddenly slipping through his fingers.

It wasn’t the first time, but it was going to be the last.

Even for his Master the time of Death had come.


	5. The eyes of Death

A soothing, mesmerizing voice rouses him from the millenary hibernation.

 _Open you eyes_ , says his new master. _It’s time to wake._

The creature lift his lids, uncovering his huge, yellow eyes.

_Come to me… It’s time, now… time to kill…_

**

The young, hurt girl cries alone, closed in a stall.

She damns those hideous spectacles picked by a overly _Muggle_ mother, she curses Olive Hornby for reminding her how little they suit her.

Then, a _boy_ ’s voice.

The eyes of Death takes her off guard, and Myrtle Elizabeth Warren passes away without a moan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: since the time I first wrote this drabble I learned that snakes apparently don't have a proper eyelid, but a sort of membrane that slide over the eye horizontally and still allows them to see.  
> I decided it doesn't suit the story, and solved the problem pretending that Basilisk do have lids XD


	6. A trail of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> {"That very night, another wizard crept upon the older brother as he lay wine- sodden upon his bed. The thief took the wand and, for good measure, slit the oldest brother’s throat." – The tale of the three brothers, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows}
> 
> {"Surely you have heard of the way the wand came to Egbert the Egregious, after his slaughter of Emeric the Evil?" – Xeno Lovegood, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows}

Alcohol-contaminated blood flowed out copiously from the mouth that challenged Death with hubris.

_Antioch hadn’t last a day._

Emeric sneaked away with the prize clenched tightly in his bloodied hand, a sneer cutting his satisfied features.

He soon learned Peverell hadn’t lied about the Deathstick, but he hadn’t time to learn his most crucial lesson as well: do not delude yourself to be _invincible_.

Egbert poisoned his wine. In the dead of the night he stripped the corpse of his belongings, taking possession of the praised wand and, for good measure, pocketing his loaded pouch as well.

_It’s a pity that Death doesn’t take cash._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note on the story: it’s not clear if Emeric was the thief mentioned in the story (actually, he probably isn’t), but I decided to interpret it that way to give a name to the characters.


	7. The Stone of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> {Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him as by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally the secondbrother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as truly to join her. – The tale of the three brothers, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows}

A shadow upon her face conceals her smile – _a shadow upon her heart withholds her life._

She looks pale, cold, without ardor – _immune to any act of love._

She tries to live in the material world – _she fails to feel like she belongs._

Days go by and the feel remains – _grows the desire of another place._

I yearn and crave her warm embrace _– I’m crushed by her miserable face_.

Be it my condemn for laughing at Death – _enduring forever a separate path._

At last I realise it: there’s another way – _I’m finally ready to challenge my fate._

{ _Time to die and I’ll join you_ }


	8. The hand of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> {It was only when he attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life. – The tale of the three brothers, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows}

“ _Use it well_ , my son. I don’t need it anymore.”

With a peaceful, serene gesture, Ignotus took off the Cloak for the first time.

Antioch looked at him in wonder, filling his own eyes with his father’s features, which he’d never seen in the daylight before.

**

“We meet again, my friend” said Ignotus with a smile, extending a hand. “I’ve been waiting.”

“I’ve been looking” answered Death, kind.

Then he grabbed the warm hand Ignotus was offering and he squeezed it gently between his scrawny fingers.

When he let go, it was already cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the collection :D  
> Feel free to drop any feedback, suggestion, correction about the story or the translation, opinion about headcanons and so on ^^  
> You can also find me on [tumblr](https://isidar-mithrim.tumblr.com)


End file.
